This specification relates to streaming digital media.
Streaming digital media enables continuously displaying media content to a user while the content is being delivered by a publisher. The types of digital media that can be streamed include video transmissions, audio transmissions, and the like. A publisher can create a digital video stream by encoding the video footage using video compression software, e.g., codecs such as On2 offered by On2 Technologies (Clifton Park, N.Y., USA), H.263 offered by the International Telecommnunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), screen sharing video and the like. A streaming media server, e.g., Flash Media Server offered by Adobe Systems Incorporated (San Jose, Calif., USA), can transmitted the compressed video stream to a receiving device that can include a media player configured to decompress the video stream and display the video stream on a display device. A video stream can be continuously transmitted, e.g., in a live stream. A user wishing to receive the video stream can join the transmission either when the transmission begins or at any time during the transmission.